Milk bottle hanger



June 6, 3 w po s 2,161,195

MILK BOTTLE HANGER Filed May 6, 1938 'r xzscrmsc DEFGHJ JKLMNOPQR A OR EY Patented June 6, 1939 UNITED STATES ATENT' OFFICE.

George W. Potts, Fairfield, Iowa ApplicationMay 6,1938, Serial No. 206,432

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a loop type of hanger suitable for supporting various articles and while not limited to any particular use, is primarily intended, as herein embodied, to serve as an out- 5 door household device for supporting the daily delivered bottle of milk at a suitable height to protect it from the dust and dirt at ground'and floor levels and also from prowling animals.

The device is ordinarily mounted on the outside of the door, door frame or the side of the house where it will be conveniently available to the milkman when delivering the mornings milk and, in addition to its main purpose of serving as an elevated support, it is given a form. such as will adapt it for engaging or disengaging the bottle by single hand operation. This feature of single hand operation is of great convenience and as sistance and saves considerable time and labor, as ordinarily the milkman carries a rack or hasket of bottles about with him and has only one hand free.

As devices of the class referred to are commonly furnished free of charge to customers, their adoption and use by milk companies de- 5 pends largely upon their cost and unless they are of simple and inexpensive construction, their use on a large scale would be commercially impossible.

' With a view to reducing the cost of production to av minimum, to meet commercial requirements,

only two simple andinexpensive parts are employed in the make-up of the device and the construction and design of these parts are such that they may be pre-formed complete before 5 being assembled, which latter operation is effected by hand and without the aid of machinery or machine Work of any kind.

Pre-forming the members complete before assembling and assembling by hand, without the 40 aid of machinery, are important features in the production of such a device, as these steps greatly simplify and reduce the cost of manufacture.

In designing the device for one hand operation, the bottle-engaging member is given such shape and so normally positioned, as to give free and ready entrance to the beaded mouth of a milk bottle and once entered, it becomes removably locked in engagement and the bottle is thus maintained by its own weight. Disengagement is effected by merely lifting and slighting tilting the bottle andis also a one-hand operation.

As the beaded formation at the top of milk bottles varies more or less, the engaging member of the supporting device is not closely fitted but has three separated points of contact, two

with the bead formation and the third with the bottle neck below the beads. This insures proper engagement, regardless of variation in beading and/or the diameter of the neck of the bottles.

The above-mentioned third point of contact -5- with the neck, is at the front of the bottle, as it hangs suspended in the support and to hold the bottle balanced and vertically upright, it rests at the rear against the 'door or wall to which the support is attached. Thus, four points of support 10 are provided substantially QO degrees apart, two at opposite sides, one at the front and one at the rear and between these four' points of support the bottle is securely held against accidental disengagement. 1-6

The body of the attaching plate to which the bottle-engaging member is hinged, may be given any suitable dimensions desired to provide ample space for a company name and address or'other advertising matter.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown one form of the device suitable for carrying my invention into effect but do not wish to be understood as intending to limit myself to the same, as various changes may be made therein without a departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as outlined in the appended claim.

In the drawing-- Fig. l is a view in side elevation showing a milk bottle held by the supporting device, the normal position of the bottle-engaging member being shown in dotted lines.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same, and

Fig. 3 shows a modification.

Referring now to. the drawing, I have shown 35 for purposes of illustrating the use of the invention, a more or less standard form of milk bottle l, the neck of which is indicated at 2 and 3 is the usual bead formation at the top of the bottle.

The hanger supporting the bottle, is shown secured by screws 4, 4, etc., to the outside of a door, door frame or wall of a house, indicated by the line 5 and at a suitable height above the ground or floor level to be out of reach of prowl- 5 ing animals.

The bottle-supporting device or hanger consists of two parts or members, one an attaching plate 6, secured by the screws 4, 4, etc., above referred to and the other a bottle-engaging wire loop 1, 0 hinged at 8 to the plate 6.

The attaching plate may be given any shape and dimensions desired, to provide suitable space for advertising matter, indicated at 9. At the upper edge, the plate is rolled over into tubular 55 formation ID, of C-shaped cross section, with the opening I I at the rear.

The opening II is of a little less width, as viewed in Fig. 1, than the inner diameter of the tubular portion In of the plate, which latter is made of sufliciently resilient metal to permit the tube to be sprung further open for the admission of the ends 1*, T of the loop wire which combine to form the pintle of the hinge connecting the members, as will be explained at greater length later on.

The loop member 1 is shaped to provide, in effect, a reversed pear-shaped opening, the upper portion l2 of which is much larger than the beaded top of the bottle and tapers down, as at l3, to a width slightly in excess of the neck of the bottle, as shown in Fig. 2. The above described shape given the loop provides free entrance into the same for the beaded top of the bottle and as the bottle top is drawn down into the tapered portion of the loop, contact at three points is made, two at opposite sides under the bead M, as indicated at l5 and I6 and the third with the neck 2, at the front of the bottle, as indicated at H.

To enable the bottle top to be entered in the loop without shifting the same appreciably from normal position, which is indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, the loop is bent up at an intermediate point I8, so that the lower portion l9 thereof projects outwardly at about 45 degrees to the upper portion 2i! and presents the loop opening for ready insertion and entry of the milk bottle top, which may accomplished by single-hand operation and the bottle then drawn down into the tapered portion of the loop and it becomes removably locked therein by its own weight.

Thus caught and held in thethree-point contact grip of the tapered portion of the loop, the bottle is balanced and maintained vertically upright by a fourth point of support provided, as indicated at 2|, by the door or wall 5, against which the body of the bottle rests, as shown in Fig. 1.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the two members that make up the device may be pre-formed complete before they are assembled and the important resulting advantages will be likewise apparent without requiring the same to be set forth at length.

The assembly of the members is a feature of importance here owing to its extreme simplicity in being eifected by hand and without the aid of machinery or machine work of any kind.

It is accomplished by placing the straight aligned ends 1*, 1 of the loop in parallel relation with the tubular portion ll) of the attaching plate and by comparatively light pressure, forcing the ends of the loop through the opening I I into the tube which, being of resilient metal, yields to permit the entry and immediately reacts and yieldingly holds the loop against disengagement. The loop thus sprung into position completes the hinged connection between the members and makes the device operative for instant use.

For purposes of economy, it may, at times, be found of advantage to cast or otherwise form the attaching plate of non-resilient metal, in which case the opening ll would be made of the same width as the inner diameter of the tubular portion of the plate, so as to admit free entry of the loop ends which form the pintle of the hinge. Thus formed, the members would be assembled by the user when securing the hanger to the door or wall and the opening H would be closed by the door or wall to prevent disengagement of the loop.

The modification shown in Fig. 3 employs the above described resilient metal attaching plate and differs from the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2, only in the location of the entrance opening to the tubular formation of the plate, which is shown at the top, as indicated at M instead of at the rear, as in Fig. 1.

An important advantage resulting from thus modifying the construction, is that the members may be readily disengaged by the user for his greater convenience in securing the attaching plate to the door or wall and after that is accomplished, the loop may then be snapped into position through the opening Il where it will be yieldingly held against disengagement by the spring action of the tube.

Having described my invention, I claim:

A hanger comprising two members associated in hinged relation, one of the members being an attaching plate for securing the hanger to a walllike support, and the othermember a tapered loop, a portion of which is bent up to normally project outwardly from and clear of the plate to present its tapered opening for free and unobstructed entrance and engagement of the article to be supported, the engaging end of the loop being shaped to provide three main points of supporting contact with the engaged article.

GEORGE W. POTTS. 

